Catch me if you can
by Lotten
Summary: Fai likes Kurogane chasing him, and if he's to be honest, he wants to be caught. But what will Kurogane do when he finelly lets the ninja catch him? KuroxFai.


Teasing is harder in Yama since Kurogane doesn't understand what he's saying, and Fai has to get more physical. He knows he probably shouldn't, but not being able to understand what anyone is saying, he gets lonely, and he misses their fighting. So he drapes himself over the man at any opportunity he gets, poking at his face, pinching his nose; he notices that Kurogane is somewhat ticklish, and has a great deal of fun with that.

Things get back to normal pretty quickly after that. He might not understand _what_ Kurogane is shouting as he grabs for him, missing only by a hair's breadth, but he's pretty sure that he understands the sentiment. And so they have wordless arguments, they play games of grab-me-dodge-me, and sometimes it culminates in full-out chases. That's the part he loves the most. In fact, he doesn't realize just _how much_ he loves having Kurogane chasing after him until one day, when Kurogane actually manages to catch him, and Fai realizes that it's because he _let_ him catch him. Because he wants to see what comes next.

Apparently, Kurogane doesn't _know_ what comes next. He freezes, his hands still tangled in Fai's shirt, probably realizing that there's no one there to interrupt them, and he really doesn't know what to do now.

Fai knows he really shouldn't, but…

…but it's too good to pass up on. And he really, _really _wants to.

So he hooks his foot in the hollow of Kurogane's knee, jerking him forward. The ninja stumbles, surprised, and has to throw up a hand against the wall to catch himself. And there they're standing, Fai with his back pressed to the wall, Kurogane leaning over him, their proximity suddenly much more palpable. Fai smiles coyly, sliding his hands over Kurogane's shoulders. "My," he mumbles, "I never knew you could be so straightforward, Kuro-tan."

He thinks for sure that this will be more than enough to scare Kurogane off, maybe even get him to blush if he's lucky. And he can laugh and run away, and it'll be something he can tease the surly ninja about later.

He doesn't expect for Kurogane to kiss him. He definitely doesn't expect how he's going to react to being kissed.

Before he can properly process what is happening – before he can _think_ about it, and shove Kurogane away – he has made an embarrassingly loud noise into that kiss, his hands tightening around the ninja's shoulders, pulling him closer. His leg, which had only been resting against the back of Kurogane's, is suddenly wrapped tightly around his thigh, and that combined with his arching back makes things _very_ intimate. As he shifts his hands, digging his nails into Kurogane's scalp, the ninja grabs him by the hips and _grinds_ them together, and they both break the kiss for a moment to pant loudly and breathlessly against each other's lips.

Fai thinks he should really ask Kurogane if there's somewhere they can go, but there's no words to ask him with, and he doesn't really want them to separate even for as long as it would take for them to find a room. At the back of his mind he knows that if they _do_, then he'll have room to think, to remember why this isn't a good idea, and he doesn't want for that to happen.

So as Kurogane leans back to gaze questioningly down at him, giving him an opportunity to back out that he really doesn't want, he pulls the other man back down by his hair, kissing him so hard it's almost vicious. He unwraps his leg from around the ninja's thigh, slinging it around his waist instead and using the gained leverage to hoist himself up until Kurogane is the one holding him up. The other man doesn't mind, if his harsh little chuckle is any indication, and as he grabs Fai under the thighs and tugs him closer for higher friction, the mage is quite happy to relinquish control over the situation to him. As long as he doesn't have to think.

And _that_ is ironically enough his last coherent thought, because then Kurogane grinds against him again, and the only thing Fai can do is tremble helplessly, throwing his head back and giving Kurogane free access to his neck. There in an onslaught of unbearably hot lips, of tongue and of teeth on skin that is impossibly sensitive, as Kurogane surges against him once more. The sharp little half-scream that leaves Fai's lips is surprised and delighted and a little bit alarmed, because he had no idea he could react so strongly to so little.

"I... Kuro-sama, I really think..." He _knows_ the ninja can't understand a word he's saying, but the words spill forward anyway. "I don't know... I don't... know how lon- _nnngh_."

Kurogane mutters something harshly in his own language, probably ordering him to shut up, but Fai doesn't need to know the words to know that they're jumbled and distorted with want, and they end in a drawn-out, incoherent growl. He's moving faster too, thrusting harder; the jolt of his hips against Fai's is sharper, and the magician can feel how he's struggling with keeping up the rhythm. Fai mumbles a muddled, nonsensical string of words in his ear as encouragement, curling his fingers and dragging his nails along Kurogane's skin, trying his best for his every move to be in pace with the other man's.

But he can already feel the heat building in a cresting wave within him, wanting to break, and his hips are moving in jagged, shuddering jolts, his back arching in a sweet agony of straining muscles...

"Kuro…s-sama, I… I'm…"

Kurogane is probably alerted by the urgency in his voice, because he grunts sharply in response, starting to move with more purpose, prolonging each motion and adding still more pressure. It's almost painful, rubbing and chafing and surging hectically against each other, as if they want to permanently obliterate the distance between them. It adds an edge to it, and Fai cries out sharply as his body is abruptly wrenched out of his control, his voice breaking into a breathless moan as the climax overwhelms him, makes him shiver and gasp and reverently whisper his lover's name over and over against his skin.

Kurogane makes a rough sound deep in his throat, a shock passing through his body as he digs his fingers into Fai's hips hard enough to bruise. And then his head falls forward to rest on Fai's shoulder, and his voice is shaking and cracked as he mutters a string of what sounds like curses, his hips moving against Fai's one last time, languid now, more sensual. Fai presses his lips to his burning-hot neck, flecking his tongue out and tasting salt, and Kurogane mumbles something in a voice that is almost soft.

"Oh, you really shouldn't have done that," Fai mumbles groggily, still with his legs clamped around Kurogane, still with his arms tightly wound around his neck, and with absolutely no plan of letting him go anytime soon. He speaks more for the sake of his own comfort, so that he can tell himself that this isn't what he chose, and even though it's true that he's happier now than he has been for _such_ a long time, this really wasn't his fault.

Kurogane says nothing – it's safe to assume that he isn't still out of breath, so he probably figures that there's no reason to speak. But Fai is feeling giddy and blissful and ridiculously elated, and as he continues pressing kisses everywhere he can reach, he mumbles: "You know, when I decided to get more physical teasing you... this really wasn't what I meant."

This time Kurogane does respond; a couple of short, sharp syllables that Fai is pretty sure means, "Idiot". He nips at Kurogane's ear to show him what he thinks of his offensive language, but since he laughs while doing it, it might not carry much weight. He really shouldn't be laughing, of course, because this is so, _so _the wrong thing for him to do. Wrong... and _dangerous_. But right now, Fai cannot bring himself to care.

xxx

Once Fai comes down from the high, he of course tries to keep his distance. And he does manage, too.

For three days, more or less on the hour.

xxx

"If your enemy is larger than you, it's not his strength or his weight that you should worry about the most." Sergeant Kurogane levels a stony look at the men in front of him, and Huang flinches slightly. He's pretty sure the Sergeant can hammer in nails with that look. "What you _should_ be worrying about is his _reach_. Now, what you do is..."

What the men should do is never revealed, because at that moment, the slim, young-looking Corporal with the tricky name appears out of nowhere and grabs the Sergeant under the arms. At first, Huang doesn't understand what he's doing, and so he stares, mystified, as the Sergeant squirms out of his assailer's grasp, cursing in surprise. And then the Corporal laughs, making another grab for his superior before once more dancing away, and Huang, to his horror, understands.

He's _tickling_ the Sergeant.

Quite sure that he's going to see a man being killed before him, or at the very least pounded until he can't move and demoted to scrubbing armour for the rest of his life, Huang is rather surprised to see the Sergeant once more make a grab for his subordinate – and once more, he misses. At this, he draws his sword, and the Corporal laughs.

This seems to be the start of a sparring-match, of sorts, except the Corporal doesn't appear to carry a weapon, nor does he seem interested in attacking. He easily avoids the Sergeant's swings and lunges, though, and at first Huang thinks that perhaps he is actually more skilled than his superior, as impossible as that might seem. But as he keeps watching he slowly comes to realize that while the Sergeant isn't fast enough to hit the Corporal, the Corporal in turn is given no time to do more than avoid the ferocious attacks, and no room to go except where the Sergeant wants him to. Almost as if he's... herding him?

As he thinks this, the Sergeant chases the Corporal around a corner, and if their battle continues, it does so out of their view. Around him, his comrades are laughing and joking with each other, some sitting down and others wandering off to splash their faces in the fountain.

"Aren't we supposed to have exercise?" he demands of the man closest to him, a fellow a good ten years or so older than him called Jin. He sleeps in the bunk next to Huang's in a room that they share with four other men, and he's been kind enough to help him out during his first, confused days in the army.

Now Jin laughs and cuts himself a slice of chewing tobacco. "Let me put it this way, kid. I think the Corporal is exercising the Sergeant for the time being. We wait for 'em to come back, and we might's'well be comfortable while we're waiting."

"But..." Huang frowns, shaking his head. "Won't they get in trouble for this?"

"Nah," Jin replies, unconcerned. "Command knows of their little... quirks. Don't really care much 'cause they're _brilliant_. And they deliver in battle, and that's the important part. Remember that, kid. What we do here don't mean nothing – don't mean _shit _– if we don't know how to not be idiots in battle."

Huang nods dutifully, but he's still preoccupied by the recent spectacle. "But Jin... they were _fighting_. And the Sergeant was chasing the Corporal. And what the Corporal did was... grossly disrespectful." He almost chokes on the words, the offence is that huge. "That _has_ to be against the rules."

Jin sighs theatrically. "You ain't getting this, are you, kid?" He raises his voice so that he's addressing the men closest to them. "Alright, fellows. Let's show the kid why the Sergeant don't mind bein' disrespected." The men laugh, as if they're sharing a joke, and before Huang knows it they have grabbed him by the arms and are half lifting, half carrying him toward the corner where their superiors had disappeared.

When Huang manages to spot the two men in the shadows of this much smaller yard, the Sergeant has just managed to corner the Corporal, and has his sword against the smaller man's throat. As Huang instinctively makes a move to interfere before someone gets killed, the men around him grab him by the arms and shake their heads, grinning. And just moments later, the Sergeant sheathes his sword with an angry grunt.

"First'y, Sarge ain't gonna use that sword of his," Jin whispers hoarsely next to him. "And secon'ly..." The Sergeant suddenly reaches out, grabbing the slim blonde by his loose shirt and tugging him close. "...secon'ly, the Corporal _wants_ t'be caught," Jin finishes calmly, as the Sergeant says something in a voice too low to hear and-

-_and kisses the Corporal_.

Huang watches, appalled, as the Corporal winds his slim arms around the larger man's neck, his fingers tangling in and tugging at his hair as a low, _wicked_ laugh is only slightly muffled by their still connected lips.

"_What_?" he whispers. Or intends to whisper. Only, his voice sort of breaks and it comes out as a fairly audible squeak.

The entangled men break apart slightly – not really like men caught doing something wrong, but like people who have just been interrupted doing something important. The Corporal's eyes widen, and then he laughs again, louder and more sincerely amused this time. The Sergeant narrows his eyes at them, and Huang is quite sure that this is his final hour.

"Get outta here," Sergeant Kurogane growls dismissively. "And you, you, you two, you and _you_," his finger stops finally at Jin, but fails to point out Huang. "You'll all stay and do some extra exercises with me. Now get lost."

The men don't have to be told twice, and they thankfully drag Huang with them, because he's feeling a bit weak in the knees. Jin laughs, apparently not very worried about his impending punishment. "Well, it was worth it," he says to no one in particular.

"Why didn't he punish _me_?" Huang demands to know.

"'Cause he knows you're green, of course," Jin replies easily. "He's a fair man, that one; one of the best Sergeants I've had. He knows the men'n'I dragged you over there for a lark, and he knows you hadn't got the faintest what you were going to see." He sends Huang a sly sideways look. "You didn't, did you?"

"Of _course_ not," Huang mutters, cheeks burning. "I would _never_ have..."

"Nah, probably not. You're a decent kid." Jin stretches, his joints creaking. "Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna jog a lap and warm up a bit. I've got a feeling the Sergeant's gonna work us pretty hard. He _hates_ bein' interrupted." He grins. "Gonna join me for a runround, kid?"

Huang doesn't answer. He just starts running, still blushing.

xxx

"I don't like being made a damn joke of in front of the men, mage," Kurogane mutters angrily, arms crossed over his chest and legs stretched out on their bed.

"I really haven't got the faintest clue what you're saying," Fai replies – untruthfully – in his own language, giving the ninja his sunshiniest smile. He's drying his hair with a towel, having just returned from the public baths to find Kurogane sulking in their room.

"You get the words for 'lavender soap' and 'flambé', but you don't get _that_? Idiot."

"Although I do know that last word, 'idiot'. You use it an awful lot."

"That's because you are one," Kurogane replies, probably guessing what Fai is saying from the tone of his voice.

"Kuro-tan, you're such a meanie."

"Don't call me that." Fai doesn't reply, just smiles pleasantly, and Kurogane snorts. "You understand every damn word I'm saying, don't you?"

"Now, what gave you that idea?" Fai wonders innocently, switching without much difficulty to the ninja's own tongue. Kurogane glares for a few seconds, before grunting and looking away, as if he's abandoned the battle. But Fai is quite sure this isn't the case. Not very concerned, he throws himself on the bed so he can sprawl bonelessly over the ninja's lap, smiling up at him. Kurogane lets him, because _that_ particular battle was one that Fai won long ago.

xxx

Maybe things ought to be more awkward between them, now that Mokona has finally arrived to their world, and they can once more talk to each other. But they have a routine for what they do when they come home after battle, and it does not involve that much talking. And they could – _should_ really – talk things through, try to properly make sense of what they have, but it's so much easier to just let things happen as they always do, with messy kisses and rapid breathing and hands that go everywhere and bodies that _want_.

So easy. Maybe too easy. The thought crosses Kurogane's mind as he skims his lips down Fai's chest, followed by '_What are we so afraid of?'_ But he can guess what Fai is afraid of, and he knows in his heart that what _he_ is afraid of is Fai getting too afraid, and bolting. He can't allow the other man to start thinking, not now. So he doesn't.

The piercing, whiplash cry from Fai is incredibly satisfying, as always, and the hands curling around his shoulders, pushing wicked nails into his skin, feel far, _far_ too good. He's never figured himself to be the kind of person that could enjoy pain, but it is beginning to dawn on him that he'd enjoy almost _anything_, as long as it's Fai doing it to him.

It takes him a few seconds to realize that Fai is talking, too busy with what his mouth and tongue is doing. That is, he knows Fai always talks when he's like this, that ecstasy causes nonsense words in that strange lisping language of his to spill forward, but it takes him a few seconds to remember that he can understand them now. It doesn't take him nearly as long to figure out that Fai hasn't remembered this yet.

"Yes, Kuro-sama, that's... that's... _yesohyesohplease_..." The words, now that he hears them in his own tongue, are surprisingly slurred and harsh, coming from someone who usually speaks in what is almost a perpetual sing-song. "I need... I _need_... I need you, I- _ah!_ I... I..." Kurogane looks up, as Fai's head lolls sideways and he opens his mouth in a scream that turns into a series of sharp pants and moans. "I _love_ you. I... love you s-so... love you so mu- _uhnnhhh_. I love you I love you I love you I love you I love...!" And then his voice cuts off as his back arches in trembling, rapturous jolts, his mouth and eyes wide open, and Kurogane caresses his stomach and chest soothingly as he swallows down the taste of his beautiful, beautiful lover.

He hadn't dared think that word before. _Lover_. It sounded too intimate, too special, too damn good to be true. But now he knows it isn't. Fai is _his_.

"You've been saying that all along, damn you," he growls, leaning forward so he hovers over Fai's boneless, spent body, staring down into his eyes. His eyes, which slowly widen as panic overtakes him. "I know you could've said it in my language if you wanted to. You'd learned enough. But you kept saying it in your own damn language instead because that was safer for you."

He doesn't wait for Fai to reply, or flee, or whatever stupid thing he's planning to do. He traps him with a hand around his neck – such a frail thing in his hand, it almost scares him, but he knows Fai won't break – and crushes their lips together. Fai puts his hands against his chest, as if he's going to push him away, but then he returns the kiss, returns it with such hopeless, desperate abandon that Kurogane knows he was right.

_His_. Well, it's no more than right. He's been Fai's for all this time, so it's only fair that he finally gets to know that this works both ways.

And then Fai's hand _is_ pushing at him, but pushing him aside, onto the mattress, and then pushing him _down, _as his other hand strays along his body, and Fai watches him with heavy-lidded eyes. He hisses and presses his eyes shut as those long, talented fingers close around his aching erection, and Fai murmurs softly in approval. A movement in the air and the warmth Fai's skin radiates alerts him of the other man leaning closer, and then his warm breath ghosts against Kurogane's ear.

"I love you," he murmurs again, voice rich and velvety as sin, and Kurogane is about to reply '_I love you too'_, but Fai does something with his hand right then that kills the words in his throat, turns them into a harsh, frantic groan. And his eyes are closed, so he does not see the look in Fai's eyes, does not realize that the mage did it on purpose. That Fai doesn't want to hear it. He only knows that he finally has everything he ever wanted, and in the rush of pleasure and fierce joy, nothing suggests to him that anything would cause him to lose it.


End file.
